Question: Suppose that I blame a friend for not being nice to me. On the other hand, I understand that this is the Creator. These two situations—between the Creator and the form through which He sends me everything—really tear me apart. Where is the turning point, the place where the two things connect?

Answer: When some negative thought appears in me regarding a friend, this is a result of the egoism that is growing within me. Nothing has changed, except for the ego (desire). Desire is the only component that changes in all of creation. In each one of us, it grows gradually both qualitatively and quantitatively.

When desire increases, I begin to feel new feelings regarding my friends, and in general, they are negative. If I don’t do anything, they work on me, and it is absolutely possible that they will take me out of this state. Or, I do something and my situation changes that way. In both cases, the states are changed into opposite states. From above, I am let to understand how quickly everything can transform and how my opinion regarding the friends can transform from negative to positive, and later, vice versa. That is how we are taught.

From us only one thing is to be achieved:that we will create an image, a system, an example of the ideal higher state within us, and we will yearn for it, wanting to realize it among us, including it within us so that we become not “we” but “one.” This means that we won’t just become connected together. Rather, we will work as a single body so much so that the “we” disappears. There is no summation. Rather, there is “one” that includes everything within it.

We know that ten components of creation connect harmoniously between us on the lowest level. They are equal in value to one, a single component of creation on the next level. Within it, the ego grows and again creates another ten components from one point that work on themselves, integrate together, rise to the next level, and then they transform into a single unit there. This is the order of growth of the levels.
So, we always need to see this pattern until it becomes our internal state, really to the feeling that we are living within it, existing within it.

Question: When the transition from ten to one is felt to a particular degree, you also begin to understand that it could not be otherwise. This means that all the bad states are intentionally sent by the Creator to then feel His goodness and His care.

Answer:This happens because feelings grow in you like this for observations and new characteristics that you could not feel before.

Question:Sometimes I am in these states for a day, two days, a week, and sometimes move through them in seconds. How is it possible to hasten this process? How does one turn toward the Creator correctly?

Answer: Don’t ever be sorry about that state you are in. Even the best state will pass as quickly as possible and will transform into a higher state. You don’t want to delay any one of them, not even for a second. It is impossible to stop the moment. Otherwise, you come to the adversary, like Doctor Faustus.

Question:There are such states that simply fall and pile up on me, and I don’t even have enough time to clarify and understand them. What is happening to me?

Answer: This is not important. After that, you will clarify things. Sometimes, it is impossible to correctly grasp your state, even on the next level, rather only through a few levels. Sometimes, what you already have passed through begins to be perceived and realized after ten years have passed. Don’t worry. The main thing is the acceleration.[128206]From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

There are certain actions a person must carry out by changing his or her egoistic nature. After all, our nature forces us to love only ourselves, to gain at the expense of our neighbors, regardless of the suffering it causes to the other and even enjoying it.

In the same manner, we don’t take into account the Creator. If it weren’t for the fear of the upper force, we wouldn’t think of it at all. However, there is concealment, due to which I don’t know what will happen to my life, my children, those close to me, or myself. Will I still be alive in the next moment? What does the next day have in store for me? Therefore, I perform a calculation and decide to be good.

We think that the Creator has some obligations with respect to a person if he carries out his obligations with respect to the Creator. In other words, if a person behaves correctly, the Creator treats him well.

Yet there is another condition that obliges us to not only relate well to the Creator, but also to the whole world and the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human. I need to treat the world that surrounds me like I treat myself. Hence it is written, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” My neighbor is anything within my environment.

Imagine that I treat everything outside of me with the same level of sensitivity, care, and love as I treat myself! I then stop feeling the difference between me and what is outside of me. The whole inanimate world, plants, animals, and people become like me.

I feel that I, the whole world, and the whole universe are as one pie in which I exist. There is no difference between what I have inside and what is outside. If we achieve this state, we thereby cancel all the boundaries and acquire an additional sense that allows us to feel what is outside of us. I have always felt the outside world through judging how beneficial something is for me. And now I cancel my egoism, my preconceived notion, and I just feel the outside world.

Suddenly I discover that the outside world and I merge into one, which is called the upper world, or the Garden of Eden. The world is full of light, energy, life, and pleasure. There is only the Upper Light, which exists in absolute rest and tranquility. There are no separations, limitations, or time.

I exit the limitations of this egoistic world and our egoistic perceptions and I reveal a new true reality, which is not bound by the boundaries of my egoism.

If I reach such a perception, when I feel the whole world as one whole, where the upper and lower worlds unite, I can feel all the Light that fills them, the only force of the Creator, then I reveal the truth, by which I exist in this world.[166870]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/17/15

Question: Our lives are so primitive: working, going back home, eating dinner, and going to sleep, waking up in the morning and going back to work. And you talk about some kind of “upper world”!

I would like to see it, but when I look up, I see only the ceiling. Is it possible to change something in my life? Where is this upper world?

Answer: When talking about the upper world, which is located above our world, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t mean an ordinary height, as if it were a ceiling or stars in the sky; this is talking about inner and higher human characteristics. Sometimes we say: “What a tall person, he is above everyone,” but we don’t mean his height. Napoleon was a meter and a half tall, at the same time, he was a great personality. So it is first necessary to clarify, what “low” and “high” mean.

In Kabbalah, “higher” means “higher” according to characteristics. Higher characteristics are bestowal, love, connection, and unity. And if we indicate that a person is low and inferior, we are referring to his dismal characteristics, not height.

So we call the spiritual world the upper world because love and unity reside there. And to approach it is possible specifically thanks to connection and unity.

Why don’t we feel the Creator? Because there is no unity between us. If we want to feel the force that surrounds, envelops, and includes all of creation within it, we need to connect and to become as one.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that even if ten people connect and unite as one person, then they will feel the upper force, the upper world. It is specifically this connection that we try to implement in Kabbalistic groups.

And this is the essence of the method that is described in the original books of Kabbalah like The Book of Zohar and the original books by the Ari and Baal HaSulam.[166657]From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

Question: If I imagine that the Creator is behind of everything that is happening to me, will I always be angry at Him. Before I used to be angry at the people surrounding me, blaming them for all my problems. If there is none else besides the Creator, will I have to hate Him now?

Answer: Don’t worry, this is normal. It doesn’t matter what your attitude towards the Creator is. The main thing is to keep thinking of Him all the time. Do not forget Him! It doesn’t matter how you relate to Him, whether good or bad. The main thing is to think about Him all the time.

The Creator wants a person to be connected to Him. He wants the person to be the one who is looking for this connection, not the Creator looking for him. The person should see one Creator in everything, as the One who is good and does good. These are the two parameters, the two properties, through which one can sense the Creator.

Around me, there is just the Creator, while the entire world is His external manifestation as though these are actors who move on the stage according to the director’s idea.[154113]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/5/2015

Question: On the one hand, we see that the person is part of nature, and everything that happens with him affects him. However, on the other hand, we place ourselves at the top of the pyramid as the crown of creation, something higher that stands above all of nature.

We are different than other creatures in intelligence, in our wisdom, and in the ability to plan and develop. We have a special addition that is not the same for any other part of nature. What place does the person hold in the system of nature?

Answer: Without a doubt, man is an integral part of nature. Our bodies belong to the animate level; all of its systems are like animals’, and there is nothing special about them. We produce children exactly in the same manner and take care of them like any animal.

A human begins where his thought, his education, and the power of his intellect, his intelligence, is awakened and developed from generation to generation, and along with the intellect, emotions are developed, the awareness of who he is and where he is. These questions are aroused in every generation, but with a newer quality.

There is a very great role for education here. In addition to development from the side of nature, we develop ourselves with the help of special systems within us, and we pass our scientific knowledge and experience from generation to generation. This is not like the survival experience that animals transmit to their offspring.

Humans transmit wisdom, scientific knowledge, and a perception of the world to their children. So, we are stronger than all of them and are ready to develop means that animals do not attain. The ape doesn’t know how to use anything besides a stick, and a human invents more sophisticated tools.

Animals are entirely activated by nature on the level of instincts and don’t ask where the orders that they obey come from. However, a human can ask why this is happening this way and is it possible to do this differently? He searches for how to leave unpleasant situations and achieve maximal comfort. It is as if he were guided by the same motivations as animals, but the animals act instinctively, like a machine. And even though many latent instincts and habits are incorporated in man and are transmitted from generation to generation, what is unique about him is that he learns constantly.

A human learns from an environment that influences him very strongly, and he changes according to the environment. Latent in him is the aspiration to leave the place where he is, to develop, to conquer new areas, to feel that he is in control, and to understand and exploit everything around him with his own powers. But we see that if a human being acts this way according to his desire, he must constantly escape from the troubles that he causes himself. As a result, he becomes more miserable, even though he is above all of nature.

We develop under the pressure of our egoism, which doesn’t exist among the animals. Animals act only according to instincts, and humans have freedom of choice: what and how to do something. So, it follows that in every situation in life, I have a possibility of doing something good or not good in relation to others, and clearly I make a choice according to my personal benefit. However, I must check carefully as to what exactly is beneficial to me. After all, a person is different from animals by also having the power of destruction, and he is capable of harming himself.

This destructive power is the control of our ego, and humans must fulfill the commands of this power even if they understand that because of it, they are sentencing themselves to a very difficult life. They must submit to this internal aspiration. They see that they are on the threshold of war, but they still cannot stop and are ready for death because their ego is stronger than their survival instinct.

An animal never goes against the survival instinct. A female is even ready to abandon her cubs to the mercy of predators to escape them herself. The natural instinct dictates that a greater and healthier part is more important than a small and weak one, and therefore the female must be saved first. That is how nature obligates animals to act in accord with the procreative instinct. However, a person can act completely differently. A mother is ready to risk her life to save her children, which is not typical of animals.

An animal simply fights for its territory, food, and continuation of the generation. But the moment that it feels that it is weaker than the enemy, it will withdraw without shame and remorse. These feelings simply don’t exist in animals. They have a normal instinct, as if it is some force working rather than the biological body. They simply gauge which is the stronger force, and the weaker surrenders. But a human is ready to fight for “truth” and “justice,” but all of these are expressions of his pride, his ego. The human must prove that he is justified, and with this he manifests his personal feelings.

Our body is no different than the body of animals. The human within us is our pride, envy, and lust. It is specifically these characteristics that differentiate us from the animal world. So the place of the human in nature is not like the place of the still, vegetative, and animate, and we instinctively distinguish ourselves from them. In addition, we can control other parts of nature: killing animals, putting them in a cage, domesticating them, and using them for food. Moreover, we absolutely dominate the nature of the vegetative and still, so we consider ourselves as being above all of nature.

But if we look at the human being, we see that what stands out is his envy, his aspiration for control and respect, characteristics that are irrelevant to the animal instincts, and so they elevate the human above everything. At the same time, even humans are managed by nature. After all, if I don’t know what will happen to me in the next moment, this brings me to the level of the normal animal. If I don’t control my future, even for the next moment, I already am dominated by nature.

So, I must clarify: Who am I really? The one who acts or the one who is activated? It seems as if I activate levels that are found above me. But I have no control over myself nor over human society. On the contrary, I am activated from above, that is, I am given the opportunity to control the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate, but I don’t control myself and what is above me, my fate and my future. In that, I am completely controlled.

This is the tragedy of the human who seems so strong and successful in all that he does. He possesses emotion, intelligence, a developed consciousness, and powerful means. After we developed to this level, we suddenly discovered that we cannot even touch what is most essential.[128375]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/23/14

Baal HaSulam, “Fruits of Wisdom,” “He who Shares the Public’s Grief”: “A person is measured to the extent that he measures,” that is, according to the size of the vessels, according to the container and its interior part. The same deficiency will always be full, no more no less.

Therefore, God’s servant who doesn’t share the public’s grief, but only feels his own private deficiency has a container for the abundance that isn’t big enough, and therefore will not be able to receive the general revelation of Godliness in the secret of the public’s consolation, because he has not prepared a vessel to receive this general phase but only his private phase.

But if he shares the public’s grief and feels the troubles of the general as his own private trouble, he is rewarded with seeing the complete phase of the revelation of the Shechina, meaning the consolation of all of Israel, because his deficiency is a general deficiency and therefore the abundance of holiness is also general.

You should thus understand the meaning of “the righteous have no rest,” which means that because the abundance is blessed according to the level of deficiency and the longings of the righteous, to the same extent, no more no less, they always make efforts to deepen and to expand their vessel because the one who bestows has no measure, only the one who receives. Thus, their only goal in life is to grow stronger and to yearn to make in them a vessel and thus cause contentment in expanding the borders of holiness.

The vessel of receiving is limited and the vessel of bestowal is unlimited. It all depends on a person. To the extent that he tries to expand his vessel of bestowal, he receives help from above. If he is really interested in correction and uses all the means he has, he can always increase the vessel, which means increasing his deficiency for bestowal. The Light that Reforms operates on him according to these efforts and corrects his vessel, prepares it, and then fills it. Therefore it is said “the righteous have no rest, neither in this world nor in the next world,” which means neither on the current level nor on the next level, and they will always be able to advance.

The key and the basis for advancement is to share the public’s grief, which means that the additional deficiencies and the need for bestowal can only be acquired from the environment. There is no other place; the environment is the only place where one can draw from it unlimitedly and advance as a result.

We can thus immediately assess how a person sees this advancement in the spiritual life. Today it already refers to everyone, both men and women. It depends if a person isolates himself and thinks that he will advance only thanks to his studies, or whether he participates in dissemination and in community life, connecting to the group with all his might. If he doesn’t do that, he cannot accumulate a deficiency for bestowal, of course, reach a prayer, and receive a readymade vessel. The Light is in abundance, and it will therefore immediately fill the vessel the moment it is ready.

Baal HaSulam wrote: “A person is measured to the extent that he measures.” After all, a person can only measure the extent that he yearns to be in the vessels of bestowal and to be filled with Light. Everything depends only on him, on the preparation of his vessel. Sharing the public’s grief is the key for the revelation of the Creator.

In his article “The Giving of the Torah,” Baal HaSulam wrote that when the children of Israel were in Egypt they became one nation that suffered the enslavement and the hard labor together the moment they began to mutually share their grief. Pharaoh brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator and enforced increasingly greater afflictions upon them, and as a result, forced them to connect.They realized that only thanks to the connection between them could they be saved and come out of Egypt. This is how a person receives the right deficiency.

It turns out that we have unlimited opportunities to advance because the whole world already needs correction. We will always have a chance to influence the public and to engage in dissemination more and more without limits; we will receive the deficiencies from people and advance before them each time in order to be their teachers and to serve them. This is how we will advance towards increasingly greater vessels of bestowal.

All the grief should be aimed at only one thing: how to absorb additional deficiencies from the close environment or from an increasingly wider environment, until the whole world is included in my vessel. This is the purpose of the shattering, which means the keeping of the commandments. Only building a deficiency for bestowal fulfills everything.

Nowadays we see that the whole world, including us, is already arranged for the revelation of the deficiency for mutual bestowal. This is how we build the place for the revelation of the Creator in order to cause Him contentment. All this will happen before our very eyes.[128267]From the Preparation for the Convention 2/25/14